Ch. 9

Words of Wisdom/Warning

" We're getting overtime for all this, right?" Aiden asked Stella. Stella looked up from her examination of the blood-soaked sheet to regard the younger woman on the other side of the table.

" We better be. We've must have looked this thing over ten times already. I don't know what anyone expects us to find."

Aiden set her elbow on the table to rest her chin on her gloved fist. " You know, I think I'm starting to miss paper work."

Stella looked back up at Aiden with a small smile tugging at her lips. " That bored, huh?"

Aiden shrugged. " The sheet smells. And yet, despite how sick that smell makes me, I'm starving. Let's just call it a night. We can stare at the sheet for hours tomorrow."

Aiden felt a slight breeze touch the back of her neck, and she turned to see Danny shouldering the door open to enter the lab. In one hand he carried a bloodied bag and a swab container, and the other hand he held shakily against his chest. The look he wore on his face was pure Danny; part penetrating intent and part pent up anger.

Aiden lifted her head from her fist in surprise, her gaze following Danny has he made his way around the table. He was hurt, there was no denying it, and in other places beside his wrist. There were small spots of blood on his shirt and he was walking with hunched shoulders indicative of a man with pain in his chest. His face was also slightly pale and his breath quick and heavy to boot.

He tossed the bag and swab onto the table. " Someone needs to process that," he said quickly in a strained voice. He then went back around the table to leave, but not before Aiden caught him by the end of his jacket.

" Danny, hey, whoa, what happened? Why's their blood on you?"

Danny turned to Aiden, his throat moving in a tight swallow, his eyes hard and cold.

" I fell on a fence."

" What?" Stella asked, straightening.

" I slipped and fell on a fence. Can I go now? I have this crazy feeling that I should probably go see a doctor. If that's all right with you, I mean."

He continued on, pulling away sharply from Aiden's grasp. Aiden exchanged a bewildered look with Stella. Stella jerked her head toward the bag.

" I'll handle this. Go see what's up."

Aiden nodded once, removing her lab coat to set it on the chair. She hurried from the lab, taking long strides to catch up with the taller Danny.

" Danny, wait up," she called. She grabbed him by his good arm to slow him down. " It might not be a good idea if you drive. I'll take you."

Danny shrugged. " Whatever."

Aiden rolled her eyes at his reply. " Then stop and wait two seconds so I can go get my stuff and check out."

Danny finally did stop five feet from the door. Aiden patted him on the shoulder blade.

" Good. Now stay. If you walk out that door before I come back, I swear, Danny, I'll break your other arm."

Danny didn't respond, just stare out through the doors into the deep night. Sighing, Aiden rushed off to get her stuff.

CSINY

Danny's mood was infectious. He was sitting in perfect silence, staring out the window as he rapidly tapped his left hand against his thigh. He never did know how to sit still. It was as though his body was a cage for an immeasurable amount of energy that was forever seeping out. Aiden could almost feel that energy, and it was negative to the tenth degree. It was also starting to bring about her own feelings of agitation.

The lights of cars, buildings, and along the streets flashed by them erratically. Aiden had her window rolled down, and could smell rain in the air. She even managed to catch the distant peel of thunder above the cacophony of traffic. It might have been a pleasant drive had Danny been more conversational.

Finally, she could take his muteness no longer.

" Okay, Messer, spit it out. What - exactly - happened tonight, huh? When did you decide to pick a fight with a fence? And did Mavin have something to do with it?"

Danny snapped his head around to look out the windshield. He shifted, practically slamming his back against the seat. " SOB had everything to do with it."

" Yeah? Spill."

" It was a trap, Aiden. We were led into a trap."

At this, Aiden snapped her own head around to look at Danny briefly in alarm, then snapped it back. " What?"

" The whole thing was set up just so someone would slip and fall. I'm betting that stuff I got on the swab is like Vaseline or oil or something. I stepped onto this scaffold to get this severed hand hanging on the other side of the fence, slipped, then took on the fence not to mention the pavement. And Mavin…" Danny shifted again. The angrier he got, the more in motion he became.

" What? What'd he do?"

" He gets the stupid hand. He throws together this snare with a wire and stick and gets the hand. Did he even suggest something like that? Hell no! He has me climb up there…" Danny shook his head, then looked directly at Aiden. She did not have to see his gaze; she could feel it like an increase of pressure focused on the side of her head.

" He knew Aiden. I swear he knew it was a trap, and let me go up to take the fall and prove himself right. The guy's a freakin' sick son of a…" he trailed off in a mumbled hail of swearing, turning his fury-filled attention back out the window.

Now that it was all out in the open, Aiden felt her own irritation begin to subside. She didn't totally agree with Danny that Mavin had made Danny a lab rat to test for traps, but then again she hadn't been there, and she wasn't about to set Danny off just to argue about it.

" Sounds to me like you need a partner switch," she said.

" Mac offered it."

Aiden could feel a fine misty spray against her cheek, so rolled up the window. " Why didn't you take it?"

" And let Mavin win? Let him know that he got to me?"

Aiden slapped the steering wheel with one hand. " Oh come on Danny! Don't even go there! 'Let Mavin win' please. This isn't a game, Messer, you're not in competition."

Aiden flicked her eyes in Danny's direction, then did a double take. The look he gave her now actually sent a chill ripping down her back. It was dark and cool, as though all his anger had shifted onto her and only her.

" Your d--m right it's not a game," he replied, his voice sounding strained once again. Aiden kept darting her eyes from the road to Danny, feeling his stare burrow into her like a knife.

" Geez, Danny, chill. It was just a metaphor. Crap."

Danny blinked a few times, then looked away, the unnerving expression melting away into weariness. " Sorry. I just… I don't know. I'm letting the guy get to me, I'm aware of that. But I'm trying not to let that happen, Aid, I really am. But Mavin isn't making it any easier. In fact he's making it worse. He's…"

" A jerk?" Aiden pressed.

" He's weird. It's like he's got fifty chips on his shoulder coupled with some kind of mental problem. He's taking something out on me but I can't figure what. It's either this case, something else, or both."

Aiden came to a red light, slowed and stopped. She let Danny's words soak in, and pondered them while she waited for the light to change. When it turned green again, she spoke.

" You know, Danny, some people are just jerks. I mean we've all been there. We meet someone, a friend of a friend or something, and for some reason - we just don't like them. Sometimes it's jealousy, sometimes it's because their personality is so opposite that we just can't see eye to eye, whatever. Most of the time we try not to give into it, other times we do, especially in our line of work. We get a suspect in, jump to conclusions, and get pissed off when it turns out they didn't do anything. Of course it doesn't help that they're doing things to piss us off in the first place. Guys like Mavin? They don't need an excuse. If they want to dislike someone then they're going to do it. And, unfortunately, Mavin has decided not to like you."

Aiden chanced another glance at Danny, and was surprised to see that he had gone suddenly still, staring vacantly down at the dashboard.

" I did that."

" Did what?" she asked.

" The moment I met Mavin, I didn't like him."

" Well, he was there on a case with you as a suspect."

Danny tilted his head back against the headrest. " I let him get to me then too, not to mention in a bad way. He got in my face, I got in his, and we had it out in words."

Aiden turned her mouth up in a half-smile. " I hate to break it to you Messer, but you let everyone get to you. And you also have a way of getting to others. You provoke. The difference is, you don't provoke the people you work with. I guess you could say - you provoke the people who deserve to be provoked, who need to be provoked. You know how to use it, Mavin doesn't. Okay, sometimes you go a little too far, but you know when to quit and you know when to say sorry. Mavin, apparently, doesn't. He just keeps going."

Danny nodded stiffly in agreement. " Okay."

" All you can do is be the better man. Prove Mavin wrong about you, whatever he thinks of you, even if it makes him all that more of a creep."

Danny nodded again, but said nothing. They were coming up to the hospital glowing like a beacon in the starless night. Aiden heard Danny let out a breath as though in relief. She pulled into the parking lot, and as she turned off the ignition she looked over at Danny. He was unbuckling his seat belt and winced when it knocked into his arm. He no longer appeared so angry, just overly tired; but then it was getting late and he was probably still in quite a bit of pain.

" One more thing, Danny," she said just as he reached around to open the door. He looked over at her.

" What?"

Aiden held up a finger. " Do not act all tough and strong and end up doing something that'll leave you worse off than you already are. You don't have to prove yourself to a guy like Mavin. Walk away, Danny. If things start to get really bad just turn and walk off. Don't let this guy get you killed."

Danny nodded, appearing a little perplexed. " Okay?"

" I mean it, Danny. And Mac'll mean it too when he finds out about this. He's gonna have a field day with it, I'm telling you now."

For the first time since arriving back at the lab, then getting into the car, Danny smiled. " Yes mom."

Aiden snatched up a wadded sack left over from one of her many lunches and threw it at Danny. " Knock it off with that mom crap while you're at it. Now let's go assess the damage."

NOTE

Jenny - I understand what you mean about the swearing, and I am aware of it. The thing is, the last story I did I tried to replace the swears with something tame, but people - not so much complained - but weren't fond of it. Really the sensitizing thing is more of a personal vendetta (don't ask). Though I may start spelling out hell, I will continue what I'm doing with the four-letter words. I will try to spiffy it up some when I set about doing revisions.

Sneak Previews - Eewwwww! I'll just leave it at that :)